Trainee Talks: You don’t have to be super

We recently had work experience students visiting Thompson Smith and Puxon. They were full of good questions, sharp observations, and that wide-reaching question - “What does it mean to be a solicitor?”

That last question pushed me back to the time when I was in their shoes, which sometimes feels like only yesterday. Strangely, it also made me think of the new Superman movie. Not the explosions or the cape, although those are cool, but rather Superman’s final speech, where an exhausted Clark Kent finally bursts through his superhero persona to say:

"I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning and despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can. I screw up all the time, but that's being human."

The speech hit me harder than I expected because honestly, training in law can feel like a never ending exercise in projecting confidence. You feel like you’re meant to be confident, capable, sharp. It feels like you should already know the answers, or at least know how to pretend you do.

Everyone wants to be good at what they do and that feeling doesn't fade once you obtain a training contract. No matter how hard you try, there might be moments that completely throw you. You try to stay calm and carry on, but sometimes all you can do is just think, “I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”

Yet, somehow, you do. Or at least, you figure it out. Training is messy. It is a blur of small wins and feedback. Training is the occasional “I should have known that” moment. You may get things wrong, misread something, or receive feedback you might not have been expecting but none of that makes you unfit for this career.

Being a good solicitor is not about being flawless. It is about how you respond when you’re not. It is about taking responsibility, asking better questions, writing a better note next time. Perhaps more importantly, it is about remembering that the clients and colleagues you’re working for are human too.

They don’t need you to be perfect. They need someone who listens, who is careful and who explains things in plain English. They want to trust you and they want to feel like they’re in safe hands. That kind of trust starts with honesty, with empathy and with showing up despite feeling doubtful.

Don’t get me wrong, it is easy to forget that. I often do. Imposter syndrome is a persistent and real pebble in your shoe that everybody experiences.

That’s where Superman comes in. You don’t have to feel super to be doing well. You just have to keep showing up, that’s the job.

If you ever do feel like flying, well, that’s just a bonus.